The first day of competition at the 2017 NCAA Final came to a close Wednesday night inside Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., with University of Cincinnati junior Adrian Valles nearly making history of his own as he placed second overall in the men’s pole vault, nearly capturing the first national title in UC men’s track and field history in the process. Valles, who placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championship in March, cleared 5.55m (18-02.50), which matched his season-best clearance, and secured All-America honors in the process.
After passing the opening height (5.15m), Valles entered the competition with the bar placed 5.30m (17-04.50) and missed on his first attempt before clearing on his second try. Following his clearance, 15 of the original 24 entrants remained in the competition with Valles being one of just five men to clear the next bar (5.45m/17-10.50) on the first attempt to push himself up from a tie for ninth place into a tie for third. The next height was 5.55m (18-02.50) with Valles and Akron’s Matthew Ludwig being the only two individuals to not only clear the bar, but also clear on their first attempts. With the bar elevated to 5.60m, both men missed their first attempts with their second offerings seeing the bar barely fall from and giving them each a second miss. Valles nearly cleared on his third attempt, but a slight brush of the bar brought it down before Ludwig was able to clear to claim the title and see Valles place second.
By placing second, Valles earned eight team points for the Bearcats. With six events scored so far through the first day, the Bearcats are currently in a tie for 10th in the nation with eight points while Texas A&M (21.5), Virginia (20), Florida (18) and Akron (15) sit in the Top 4, which would earn team trophies at the end of the meet. Historically, the most points scored in a single meet by UC is 13 points that the Bearcats men at the 1973 outdoor meet. The men still have one competitor remaining in the competition in Macklin Tudor who is ranked second heading into the discus on Friday afternoon where a third-place or higher national finish would break the program’s single-meet scoring record.
With his runner-up finish, Valles continued to add his name to the lists of all-time Bearcats greats. As the runner-up, Valles, tied Al Lanier for the best finish by a UC man in program history after Lanier finished second four times in the long jump, including the 1972 indoor and outdoor and 1973 indoor and outdoor NCAA events. By placing second today, Valles also earned All-America accolades for the fifth time in his career to move into a tie with Lanier for the most All-America accolades earned in program history (men and women) as well as the most first-team All-America honors earned in program history with Lanier.
Courtesy www.gobearcats.com